Just got back from our annual planning meeting for my Best of Barbecue products. (More on that soon. Anything YOU'D like to see for next year?)

Had some pretty amazing live fire cooking at Hi Lo BBQ in the Mission District in San Francisco. (The "Hi" represents high heat from the oak burning grill in the open kitchen. "Lo" comes from the barbecue pit in the basement. Highlights? Brassicas roasted in the embers. Thai brick chicken. Smoky brisket with spinach oil and micro-greens (hey, this is southern California).

In Berkeley, I ate at a hyper authentic Japanese yakitori bar called Ippuko. Chicken skin, chicken necks, chicken oysters, even keel bone grilled over a screaming hot bincho-tan charcoal fire. You haven't lived until you've tried the tsukune (grilled chicken meatball served with jidori egg yolk). And plenty of potent shoju (Japanese "vodka") to wash it down.

In Oakland, I had big flavor Thai street food at a funky new restaurant called Hawkers Fare. Thai beef jerky. Grilled short ribs. And string beans so flavorful they could rouse the dead--even if not grilled.

<snip>Had some pretty amazing live fire cooking at Hi Lo BBQ in the Mission District in San Francisco. (The "Hi" represents high heat from the oak burning grill in the open kitchen. "Lo" comes from the barbecue pit in the basement. Highlights? Brassicas roasted in the embers. Thai brick chicken. Smoky brisket with spinach oil and micro-greens (hey, this is southern California).<snip>

Generally no where. The one place that used to have ok BBQ was Buckeye Roadhouse. Then the opening chef/owner left and was replaced with a wanna-be celebrity chef who spends more time schmoozing women at the bar than running his kitchen. As a result youll find ribs with the membrane on and cold from the fridge, brisket thats been boiled or braised then covered with sauce (it used to be BBQd). His biggest addition to the menu? Chicken wings mixed with a wee bit of Tabasco then put on the smoker. Those usually come out right.

Other than that BBQ joints don't seem to last long here (in the last 3 years we had one caterer turned brick and mortar that went a few months, then a big money group come up with a smokehouse where 85+% of the menu wasn't smoked - after several million dollars and less than a year the place is now a Hop Monk tavern).

The one BBQ place that has made it recently expanded to a new location. When I visited the old location nothing tasted as if it had ever seen a whisp of smoke. In the new location the ribs seem to have found the smoke - smoke rings and a nice smokey flavor. Sadly the brisket is still searching for smoke. The place is the Best Lil Porkhouse. I hope they do well and get better it would be nice to have a local Q joint.